Bruins

Gresh & Zo: Officiating Wasn’t Great, But Not The Reason Bruins Lost Game 7

Max Pacioretty #67 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates a second period goal with his teammates against the Boston Bruins during Game 7 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Semifinals on May 14, 2014. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)

Gresh: “The officials were not good last night, but it did not cause the Bruins to lose the game.”

Zolak: “That’s fair.”

Gresh: “They were not great.”

Zolak: “They did not swallow the whistle like I thought they would.”

Gresh: “No they didn’t. In fact, I thought the first period was officiated way too tight and then at least it started to loosen a little bit. However, at the beginning of the second period what do you got? Brad Marchand skates in on Carey Price and snow sprays him.”

Untimely mistakes, and in this instance a penalty, is what did the Bruins in last night. After a first period in which the B’s looked sluggish and disinterested, Gresh and Zo were ticked off when Marchand opened the second frame like that.

“It was done immediately after probably the worst period you played in recent playoff history,” said Zo.

“It was a bad period and you did that to come out in the second?” said Gresh.

The penalty certainly had its mixed reactions. “Inside The Glass” reporter Pierre McGuire didn’t think that Marchand’s transgression warranted two minutes in the box. However, Bruins radio color analyst Bob Beers, like Gresh and Zolak, was not a fan of what Marchand did.

“It’s just dumb on his part. You can’t put yourself in a position to get that call. Can’t have that,” said Gresh.

One caller phoned in and said it was “the worst officiated game of the series,” and I’m sure plenty of Bruins fans feel the same way sitting here today in disappointment.

But by and large, Gresh had no problem with the referees and even gave credit to the Canadiens for not flopping and diving around the way they normally do.

“The referees were pretty sketchy for about 30 minutes last night. I don’t mean sketchy as in they are on-the-take, but they were pretty inconsistent for 30 minutes. Then I felt they started to let more and more go. I can’t put this loss on the officials, and I sure as hell can’t put it on Montreal flipping and flopping all over the place,” said Gresh.